Sunday 17 May 2015

The Gliding Lemur’s Amazing Transformation


Malayan flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus). Image courtesy of Nina Holopainen, Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Even in the animal kingdom, appearances can be misleading. We would not think that bowerbirds with their tiny brains could imitate almost anything they hear or that robins could use quantum technology to navigate from one continent to another, always finding the same place they left the previous year.

Even after the cosmic Fall, it’s a wonderful world. When we think about how bees navigate, how hummingbirds are designed, what gecko feet are like and how incredibly powerful the
mantis shrimp is, we would probably agree that we live in a world full of wonders.

Here’s one more addition to the list. A brief article in New Scientist featuring an animal most of us have probably never seen states the following:

“Take one look at a flying lemur, or colugo, sitting in a tree and it brings to mind a scrawny kid forced to wear his big brother's hand-me-downs. Flaps of skin hang around its ankles and get in the way as it clambers awkwardly around the forest.

Once the colugo leaps into the air, though, everything changes. Its baggy folds transform into enormous wings as the animal sails gracefully through the canop
y.”

It is logical to think that the One who is full of grace and truth (Jesus) would create animals that can sail gracefully through the air.

The gracefulness we see in the animal is just a partial reflection of true grace, which saves us.

Source:

Piotrowksi, Jan. 2015. Zoologger: The clumsy tree-dweller transforms into a gliding ace. New Scientist (15 May ).